OK, I’m writing this on the morning of day three, mainly as I didn’t have time last night. Am currently preparing to leave Charleston, WV and it was raining about a half hour ago. The weather report does not look too favorable either.

Yesterday however was utterly wonderful. Leaving Altoona on the highway wasn’t promising but we soon hit the 220 and things picked up after Cumberland. As we started to get towards the US-50 it was really getting nice and twisty. These are the roads we remember and must come back for. The US-50 was similarly fun, even more so perhaps with some lovely climbs and switchbacks.

From there it was down WV-90 and true to what I’d been told about WV, was full of wildlife. I think we saw at least 10 deer, at least three of which crossed the road in front of us. Luckily, visibility was good so there was no need of the ABS on the tiger. We also saw a black bear sitting in the road. She ran off as we passed (slowly) by and realized the thing remaining in the road was her dead cub, it clearly having been hit by a car or some other vehicle. We thought about stopping for pictures but thought better of it.

After a wonderful lunch in Thomas, WV (the Flying Pigs does a mean burrito and the sweet potato pancakes are incredible) it was continuing down the 219 through yet more twists and turns before the 33 which is pretty straight.

After meeting the I-79 and seeing how tedious it looked, we turned off and followed the 19 which runs mostly parallel and it way more interesting. Like most roads replaced by a highway, it was pretty quiet and allowed good progress, but for the sake of the directions and to get into town a little earlier, we relented and hit the I-79 again, finally hitting Charleston around 5. We rode 576km yesterday and 520 today and I know which was the better so far. West Virginia is a biker heaven (that’s what the lovely Harley riders at Buckhannon told us when we stopped for gas and they were right).

Today, however, WV looks a little less inviting. The rain is mostly evaporated away but there is more forecast. So today will be all about taking it a little easier and hoping that it stays dry. Then again, if it does rain, at least I get to see how waterproof these Sidi Goretex boots actually are.

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